We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
78 of its 93 stories (84%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Guayaquil accounted for 54 of Ecuador's 78 stories about harm, carried by 87 outlets. 31 of Guayaquil's 54 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (59 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.
36 of its 62 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 41%. Khartoum accounted for 23 of Sudan's 36 stories about harm, carried by 20 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (15 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
38 of its 46 stories (83%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Ebola was named in 28 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual, with outbreaks. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
38 of its 73 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (6 stories).
26 of its 51 stories (51%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Ljubljana accounted for 23 of Slovenia's 26 stories about harm, carried by 54 outlets. 14 of Ljubljana's 23 stories were about protests or strikes.
9 of Baghdad's 18 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
18 of Beirut's 28 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of refugees ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Kabul accounted for 317 of Afghanistan's 472 stories about harm, carried by 378 outlets. Illness was named in 27 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
66 of its 211 stories (31%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of people affected ran at about three times the usual rate (9 stories).
37 of its 111 stories (33%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: flooding in Thailand (29 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); flooding in Italy (11 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); measles in Russia (19 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); illness in Afghanistan (27 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); power cuts in Ireland (17 of its stories, more than ten times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 29 Sep. The big dot is this day; the shaded band is a normal day (the 30 days before it). Click a day to open it. Based on 25,252 stories about harm among 99,777 counted on 29 Sep.
Ecuador stood out: 84% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 28%. 25 in every 100 of the day's 99,777 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 28. A year earlier, on 29 September 2020, 25 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, the same as today.
Written by code from the day's numbers.
Countries with at least 50 stories that day.
Stories, not people.
The day's biggest events: attacks, accidents and disasters, people displaced, protests, outbreaks. Bigger dot: more stories. Ranked by the share of the day's outlets that reported it and how clearly it was about one thing, the same way for every place and year; the news data does not say who attacked whom, so both sides of a war appear where the news put them. Click a dot for its stories.
Of the stories about people being harmed, what part of life each was about. The mark is usual.
Stories that report it, not people: we count what reporters wrote, not what happened.
The words in the day's stories were about as usual. Filled dot: today. Ring: usual.
From the words reporters used across the whole day, never one story. Fear is the weakest of the four measures. How?
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